This is my favorite nonfiction book of all time. The ideas he explores come into play in such disparate fields as genetics, weather, music, math, and artificial intelligence. The presentation is brilliant, with much witty wordplay and intricate inter-references between things like zen koans, Magritte paintings, puns, acrostics, and formal systems. It's loads of fun but also imparts a deep understanding of how a lot of stuff in our universe works. I've read my paperback copy so many times that it's now looseleaf. I may have reviewed this book twice, now that I think about it, but that's okay cause I've read it more than twice. =)